The old pain that Ian managed to pull out of retirement and bring to the surface was forgotten. I sank onto a nearby stool, trying to process what that meant. Ian kept eating, standing up, the tension coiling his body so that every movement looked spring-loaded. “Ian.” “I left because staying put my family at risk, Savi,” he said, not looking up. “It put anyone I loved at risk. I wasn’t in the trusted fold anymore, which meant my father wasn’t either. They looked at me as a traitor who could just as easily go to the police for protection, and these people did not want to go to jail over my stupid ass.” “So—so your dad—” I began, trying to piece it together. “Was part of it, yeah,” he said. “It started decades ago, he and the Greene brothers and a couple of other buddies who were doing the same. They skimmed off their own businesses in the beginning, and over the years realized how profitable extortion might be. Sharing the joy and all.” “Shit.” “Yep,”
